I got to read the Writ of Excommunication of Spinoza today in class. FUN!
The Senhores of the Mahamad make it
known that they have long since been cognizant
of the wrong opinions and behavior of
Baruch d'Espinoza, and tried various means
and promises to dissuade him from his evil
ways. But as they effected no improvement,
obtaining on the contrary more information
every day of the horrible heresies which he
practised and taught and of the monstrous
actions which he performed, and as they
had many trustworthy witnesses who in the
presence of the same Espinoza reported and
testified against him and convicted him; and
11fter all this had been investigated in the
presence of the rabbis, they decided with the
consent of these that the same ESpinoza
should be excommunicated and separated
(rom the people of Israel, as they now excommunicate
him with the following ban:
After the judgment of the Angels, and
with that of the Saints, we excommunicate,
expel and curse and damn Baruch
d'Espinoza with the consent of God,
Blessed be He, and with the consent of
this holy congregation [kahal kadosh] in
front of the holy Scrolls with the 613
precepts which are written therein, with
the anathema with which Joshua banned
Jericho, with the curse with which Elisha
cursed the youths, and with all the
curses which are written in the Law.
Cursed be he by day, and cursed be he
by night; cursed be he when he lies
down, and cursed be he when he rises
up; cursed be he when he goes out, and
cursed be he when he comes in. The
Lord will not pardon him; the anger and
wrath of the Lord will rage against this
man, and bring him all the curses which
are written in the Book of the Law, and
the Lord will destroy his name from
under the Heavens, and the Lord will
separate him to his injury from all the
tribes of Israel with all the curses of
the firmament, which are written in the
Book of the Law. But you who cleave to
the Lord your God are blessed.
We order that nobody should communicate
with him orally or in writing, or show him
any favor, or stay with him under the same
root, or come within four ells of him, or read
anything composed or written by him.
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4 comments:
Poor guy--what did he do??
kjf
Said that we should read the Torah like any other book and that the current religious authorities based their knowledge and authority on BS interpretations. He's seen as the first "secular Jew" in that he left mainstream Judaism without converting to another religion.
Or perhaps he called someone "Baldy", like the boys who got cursed by Elisha.
Heehee. Suffice it to say that they weren't too happy with him.
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